"Without realizing it, we are actually in a state of orgasm. We are actually orgasming far more than we think we are."
Explore this episode and deeper teachings on somatic sexual healing: rahichun.com/podcast/cartwright-neo-tantra-orgasm/
Who this episode is for: Anyone who has quietly sensed that sex holds more presence, connection, and aliveness than the brief release they were taught to aim for.
Dawn Cartwright arrived at her first tantra retreat, in the mountains above Santa Barbara, wearing a blue business suit and heels and carrying suitcases. She had no idea what tantra was. She signed up because the ad promised "the art of sexual magic." More than three decades later, she is the founder of the Chandra Bindu Tantra Institute in Los Angeles, creator of the year-long Fragrance of the Lotus Teacher Certification Training, and host of the Be Fully Alive podcast, with more than 325 episodes. She has studied with teachers including Margot Anand and Daniel Odier, and holds a degree in psychology from UC Davis.
Dawn and I explore why so much of what we call orgasm is built on resistance - holding back... holding back... until we can't anymore. And what opens when the tension guarding our pleasure softens. She describes orgasm as a doorway into how the body is designed to feel all the time, and walks through the practices she teaches: tracking sensation without labeling it, breathing beneath the belt, and ceremony as a structure for meeting.
In this conversation:
- Why the familiar "exclamation point" orgasm follows a resistance model - and what an ellipsis feels like instead
- Where Dawn says orgasm is already happening in every body she has worked with
- What tension in the jaw and belly during sex may be protecting
- Numbness as a sensation worth tracking, not a verdict on your body
- Breathing beneath the belt, and the oceanic breath that wakes the pelvic floor
- Ceremony - which Dawn once thought would ruin sex - as a space for meeting
- How holding back in pleasure mirrors holding back from love
- What Dawn, at 65, means when she calls sexuality the fountain of youth
Timestamps:
04:36 — A business suit meets a tantra retreat
08:48 — What neo-tantra actually invites
16:02 — Orgasm as a doorway, not a destination
23:50 — The resistance model of orgasm and love
28:34 — Tracking sensation and breathing beneath the belt
34:35 — An invitation for the tantra-curious
Resources & Links:
Dawn Cartwright: dawncartwright.com - @dawncartwright Be Fully Alive podcast: Dawn Cartwright on Patreon
Reclaiming Your Pleasure: rahichun.com/courses/
Awaken Your Body: rahichun.com/courses/
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